CHORISTERS have united to record a poignant signature anthem for a much-loved hospice.

Hold Your Hand in Mine was written by Alison Willis and arranged by Tim Jones, head of music at Coleg Cambria.

The track was the winning entry in the Nightingale House Hospice Choral Competition last year.

The contest was organised to celebrate 25 years of hospice care at the Chester Road site and attracted competitors from all over the world.

It is now hoped it will be performed at future fundraising concerts and services when Covid-19 restrictions permit.

In the meantime, members of Nightingale House Hospice Choir and Wrexham Music Cooperative Youth Choir joined together to create a virtual recording of the uplifting tune, including a special translation into Welsh by the hospice’s Chair of Trustees, Eluned Griffiths.

The competition was the idea of Kay Ryan, Day Services Lead at Nightingale House, who said: “It is incredible to see the idea of a choral competition actually get to this stage of production.

“The words are as beautiful as the tune. I hope when anyone hears it or sings it as part of a choir they will think of the help, support and care available at Nightingale House for those with life-limiting illnesses.”

Rehearsals have taken place over the last few weeks and recorded individually by each member of both choirs.

All the voices were then blended by Tim Jones to create the final soundtrack arrangement and a video produced by Elin Wright.

Tim said: “It was wonderful to be able to take all the individual voices and see them emerge into one choir. All the singers did remarkably well to create the final version as it can be difficult to interpret musicality this way in isolation as you are not able to benefit from the emotion and feelings of fellow singers.

“I am delighted with how it has turned out and I hope that it won’t be too long before it can be performed ‘live’ in front of a real audience.”

Alison Willis added that she was “delighted” with the final version of the song.

She said: “I know only too well how challenging and time consuming it is to create something as utterly professional as this. I was thrilled that we were able to have a chorus in Welsh as I am currently learning the language.

“I hope that the song will help raise awareness of the wonderful work done at Nightingale House and help raise much needed funds for the hospice.”